Final Reflection

What was useful /not useful in terms of the classroom practice?
Looking at the course that have passed, I can say that the presentation that I had to do were very useful, because they made me think on my teaching practice and gave me hints to improve it, in relation to the different approaches that we studied.
Also, making a parallel between the approaches was very useful, because the comparison made me reflect on the positive aspects of each one.

What things you enjoyed/didn't enjoy?
I really enjoyed the readings. They were great! very interesting and motivating to read. Very useful! I also enjoyed writing on the blog, because it was an instance of reflection on the course. But I didn't enjoy posting comments on other blogs. Most of the times I had nothing to say, and I think that was a little bit forced. Reflecting on my process is OK, but commenting on others were boring.

What you think would improve this module, why?
I think that spending more time on studying the Communicative Approach would be great. Finally, that approach is the one that we want to apply, or at leats try it. So, I think is important to focus more on that. However, the knowledge of the other approaches is very useful too!

Developing our Professional Competence

I felt completely identified with the article, in terms of reflecting on my teaching practice and promising some changes for the next year. In my case, the resolutions that I make are in relation to the read aloud planning. I would like to have the time to prepare in more details the books that I am going to read. That is to say, write down the questions that I am going to ask, design pre during and post reading activities. Sometimes I do it, but I would like to do it with each book that I read.
When the year starts and I have to do lots of things, is very difficult to maintain the promise that I have done the year before. I am running every day in order to prepare all the activities and materials, but I don't stop myself to think on the read aloud. I know that I have the book in my classroom, so I can read it. This is very bad, because I know that if I prepare the read aloud, the students learn even more.
On the other hand, the school should give more hours for planning, because there is too much to do, and too little time.
Finally, I think this chapter is in a book on methodology, because reflect on our own teaching practice is part of the methodologies that a teacher applies for the learning process. When we reflect, we can identify the aspects that should be improved and the methodology will change.

Noticing

I have never heard about the concept of "notocing", but I can understand that is the process of paying attention to meaning and form, during the learning process.

Analysing my learning experience, I can say that during all the school years I was focused on form, only form. My teachers only tought me grammar rules and structures. Because of that, I could never understand anything in English in those years. I was not focused on meaning.

When I decided to follow the English minor at University, I focused all my attention on meaning. Then I realised that my tecahers at school didn't give me the appropiate comprehensible input that I needed to understand the language.

A communicative teacher for Péter Medgyes

Péter Medgyes talks about the communicative approach and also about how a communicative teacher has to be and whay she has to do in her practice.

According to the first idea, it states that is really demanding for teachers because the learners are seen as individuals, and so have to be treated in a particular way.

Talking about the characteristics that a teacher must have, he says that she has to be erudite and versatile, learner-centered, ingenious, confident and with lots of skills that make her be a super teacher aware of everything.

Appart from that, she has to be able to produce real interaction between students, focus on meaning and form, listen carefully to her students, create the adequate conditions to see that learning is taking place and to withdraw form her students.

This is a summary of the main ideas, but a communicative teacher has to be this and even more!!

The Communicative Teacher

I completely agree with the article!

All the theorists state that the Communicative Approach is the best way to teach, and also the teachers. But a few of them put the theory into practice. That's because implementing the Communicative Approach inside the classroom is not easy for a teacher. As Medgyes says, this kind of teacher must be a superwoman, beacuse she has to consider many factors at the same time, and also to be a "perfect person". That's why, most of the times, teachers have the objective of the Communicative Approach, but they don't do it.

Also I like what the author says about the textbook. That it is the safety for those non-native teachers teaching in a non-English speaking country. It is difficult, but I agree that the textbook is not necessary for teaching English. You can do many other things, that will take more time for planning them, but the resuts will be successful, I think.

Teaching creativity

What really called my attention from the video and what I have the opportunity to experiment it every day, was the fact that children have an extraordinary capacity. It is easier for teachers to subestimate our students, because we don't need to plan challenging lessons, but we have to be aware of that creative capacity and give them the opportunities to grow from there. We must help their inteligences to develop in a creative way.

Communicative Competence

1. BACKGROUND
1.1 Grammatical and communicative approaches: It explains the differences between the grammatical approach, the communicative approach and also integrates a thirs approach that is called the situational syllabus.
1.2 Competence and performance: it discusses the differences between competence and performance and introduces the the concept of communicative competence, which integrates the knowledge (competence) and the use of the language (performance).

2. SOME THEORIES OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE:
2.1 Theories of basic communication skills: it explains that those theories should be focused on meaning and oriented to develop the basic level of communicaton.
2.2 Sociolinguistic perspectives on communicative competence: it shows the importance of knowing how to use the language in context. That is called analysis of the ethnography of speaking.
2.3 Integrative theories of communicative competence: it explains that those theories must integrate the grammatical knowledge, the use of language in different contexts and how communicative functions can be combined.
2.4 General comments: it reflects about aspects that haven't been discussed about the theories of communicative competence.

3. TOWARD AN ADEQUATE THEORY OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE:
3.1 Guiding principles for a communicative approach: there are 5 principles that a communicative approach must have: 1. Integration of grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence and communication strategies. 2. Based on the learners' communication needs. 3. Meaningful communication interaction. 4. Basic communication aspects. 5. Teach about language and about the culture.
3.2 A proposed theoretical framework for communicative competence: integration of grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence.
3.3 Implications fo a communicative approach to teaching: The activities must be meaningful and the teacher must have an activating role.
3.4 Implications for a communicative testing programme: the objective is to evaluate if the learner can demonstrate his communicative knowledge in a meaningful communicative situation.